(Newser)
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A woman is dead and another is missing after each fell from decks of separate Carnival cruise ships over the weekend. An unidentified woman aboard the Carnival Elation, which departed Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday for a four-day cruise to the Bahamas, fell from a room balcony Friday before hitting a deck several floors below, reports WJAX. Carnival says medical personnel "responded immediately," but the woman died. Two days later, a 44-year-old woman on the Carnival Triumph was "seen going overboard" near Mexico on the second of a five-day cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel, a Carnival rep tells the Miami Herald.

Mexican authorities responded with a sea and air search as the cruise ship continued to Cozumel, but Juwanna Brooks remains missing. "I just want to believe that they're going to find something. I just want to be able to put her to rest," her mother, Marilyn Winfrey, tells KLFY. Winfrey says the cruise was her daughter's first—a Christmas gift from her husband, who accompanied her. She also denies rumors on social media that Brooks jumped. "There's no way she could, she's only 5 foot 1," says Winfrey. She adds the FBI is investigating and the family is still waiting for more answers. (Read more cruise ships stories.)

I have been on 20-30 cruises on at least 10 different cruise lines and have NEVER seen a place where anyone could fall overboard without either climbing up on a rail or going into areas clearly marked as off limits.